Tag Archives: Joe Canning

All-Ireland Hurling Final 2018 Pt 1

Aug
21
2018
by Brendan Ó Sé | Comments Off

The pre-match parade

78 minutes and 38 seconds into Sunday’s All-Ireland Hurling Final and Joe Canning stands over a free in his own half under the Hogan stand. His Galway side that he has carried for the most part of this game find themselves trailing by 1 point. We are over time. A full 1 minute and 38 seconds of the 8 added on minutes over.  The 82,000 inside the stadium and the millions watching on TV and listening on the radio hold their breath. Could Canning level the match? A Galway side that looked dead and buried on 68 minutes when Shane Dowling scored Limerick’s 3rd goal to give them a 8-point lead somehow rallied to bring the destiny of the Liam McCarthy for 2018 to a 1-point game. Joe Canning has been in this position before. In 2012, not too far from the spot he is now standing on, he scored a free into the Hill 16 end to salvage a draw for Galway against Kilkenny. This time he is further out and facing the Canal end a full 100 metres away. But this is Joe Canning; no ordinary man, no ordinary hurler. This has been the season of the comeback in hurling. Sides have seen big leads clawed back. And in the back of every Limerick person’s mind is 1994. Could Limerick trip up when the end line is so close in sight again? Canning lifts and strikes. The sliotar soars and sails towards the Limerick goal. It is on target, but does it have the length? For 5 seconds it sails through the air before coming down in the large rectangle where 9 Limerick and 6 Galway players wait. The players tussle and swipe, desperately trying to get the sliotar. Then a green shirt breaks from the pack. Limerick’s Tom Condon bursts out with the ball. The referee blows the final whistle. And with that 45 years of hurt disappears. Limerick have won the All-Ireland Hurling Final of 2018. They have won, what many will consider to be the greatest All-Ireland of all time. They are champions. Liam McCarthy is theirs.

Limerick fans celebrate the final whistle

The roar from the Limerick crowd is deafening. The stand shakes and shudders such is the intensity of their celebrations. The stadium is awash with green. The Limerick supporters surrounding me are hugging each other. Tears of joy running down the faces of men who would have been but boys when their county last won. Down below some supporters burst on to the pitch. They have waited a generation to see their hurlers win. Now they want to acclaim them on the field. Much has changed since their last win in 1973 and one thing is stewards will not allow fans on the field after the game. They are shepherded back to their seats. On the big screen and over the loudspeakers John Kiely is interviewed: “”We were always the bridesmaids – but today we got over the line.” On the pitch the players are running from one to another jumping into each other’s arms, hugging tightly. They have done it. They’ve won. The Cranberries’ song Linger blasts out over Croke Park and the relief of finally getting over the line now seems to turn to joy; to enjoying and savouring this moment. Limerick’s moment.

Tom Morrissey scores Limerick’s second goal

Shane Dowling scores Limerick’s third goal

The match was not a classic. What it did have was a classic ending. Limerick were by far the better team, but so easily could have blown it in the end. They went 30 minutes in the second half without scoring a point. They had 20 wides. Galway were flat and never looked capable of reaching the standards they had set in matches like the Leinster Final replay and the 2 All-Ireland semi-final against Clare.

Man of the match Kyle Hayes scoring a point

My take on it is this. I feel the new format, while being a great success and giving us some absolutely classic encounters, was one that teams found hard to manage. The players are amateurs. They were asked to play so many high intensity matches at intervals they had no previous experience of. In seasons gone by teams have played as few as 3 games and won All-Irelands. Kilkenny won most of theirs playing 4. Galway played 9 this season. Limerick played 8. I saw evidence in Galway’s play that they were in decline from the Leinster Final replay. In that first 20 minutes they produced the best hurling of the championship blowing Kilkenny away and racing 9 points up. But in the 2nd half Kilkenny mounted a comeback and got within a point of them. The 2 matches against Clare followed a similar pattern. Galway could not maintain their momentum. The arrived to the final tired. Limerick on the other hand were that bit fresher, but not at their peak. Their score of 3-16 was their lowest of the championship. Placing 3rd in the Munster Championship created a path to the final which benefitted Limerick. They had a 3-week break from their defeat to Clare before playing Carlow. With all respect to Carlow, Limerick’s next real championship game came a week later to a Kilkenny side who would play their 3rd championship match in a row in the space of 2 weeks. Limerick then had a 2-week break to the semi-final against Cork and another 3 weeks to the final. Yet, while they were clearly the better side on Sunday and clearly the best team of the championship, I felt they were not at their very best in the final.

Joe Canning

Looking to next year, I think teams and the GAA will have learnt an awful lot from the new format this year. I would imagine the GAA will convene and from this there will be some minor changes to allow all teams a break in the round robin series to ensure no team has to play on 3 consecutive weekends. With no papal visit next year, we will probably see the final being pushed back to the first Sunday in September. For teams, the challenge will be how to manage players’ fitness and to manage the squad. With the games coming thick and fast it must have been hard to get those who did not make the first 15 to match–day levels of fitness with so little hard training possible with the quick turnaround of games.

All-in-all it has been a brilliant season of hurling. I have loved every moment of it, bar my beloved Cork hurlers losing to Limerick in the semi-final. I got to go to stadiums I have never been to. I saw some classic encounters. But what I will take away from it all is the sense of pride and identity the sport of hurling brings us. Over the 3 months of the championship I met with hundreds of supporters from all the participating counties and many with no allegiance to any side. I can literally count on one hand the number of people who walked past me or said no when I told them of my project. Invariably I was met with a smile and a warmth. People were quick to gloss over crushing defeats they experienced and tell me of the craic they had with their friends or family on the way to or from the match instead, or they would tell me with hope how this year would be different. I heard many the story of great rivalry, but none of bitter hatred you might get in other sports. Engaging with them, I have heard their stories and learnt what their county means to them; discovered how hurling lets them live off past glories and dream of ones to come. Hurling is something we all share and cherish. We may be selfish in our dream of glory for our own county, but hurling is all of ours. A national treasure passed down through generations. Its story tells of who we are.

Seán Finn block down without his hurley

Part 2 – with photos of the fans I met will be posted tomorrow.

Posted in Brendan Ó Sé. Brendan Ó Sé photography, GAA, To the heart of hurling Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Galway v Clare, August 5

Aug
06
2018
by Brendan Ó Sé | Comments Off

In this hurling season that just keeps on giving and giving, yesterday’s match may not have hit the heights of the two epic games of the previous weekend, but it did try to follow that script. Much like the drawn game between the two counties, Galway raced into a 9 point lead only to see their neighbours gradually claw it back. That is 3 games on the trot where Galway have led by 9, only to see the opposition pull back to within a point of them. But it must be acknowledged that even though they have left big leads slip, they have only been led once in those 3 encounters. When Johnny Glynn slapped the sliotar one-handed to the Clare net on 20 minutes it looked like Galway had learnt their lesson and would put the game to bed before the half-time whistle. Who could have predicted that they would not score again in the first half? Clare to their credit rallied and again like the match in Croke Park it was Shane O’ Donnell who stood up and led that Clare rally. The teams went in at half-time with 6 points in it. With the help of 2 fine goals from Shane O’ Donnell and Peter Duggan Clare made it a 1-point game by the 54th minute with the score at 1-14 to 2-9. The teams traded points over the next 13 minutes. 67 minutes into this replay and there was a point in it. Back in June, at the death of their match against Tipp, the width of the goalpost on the town end of Semple Stadium stood between them and an early championship exit when Tipps’ Jake Morris shot failed to hit the net, bounced off the upright and Clare went up the field and scored a goal of their own. With that momentum they went on to beat and eliminate Tipp and their season opened up for them.  Yesterday, on the opposite end Clare’s Aaron Shanagher had the Galway keeper beaten, but what looked like a simple tap in for him came off the upright and Galway cleared their lines. Had it gone to the left of the upright, Clare would have gone 2 points up with 3 minutes left in regulation time. An All-Ireland Final against neighbours Limerick beckoned. Instead, Galway won a sideline in the Clare half. The crowd settled as Joe Canning took his time over the ball. The Galway crowd rose and roared when he sailed the sliotar between the posts. Galway were now 2 points up and only 2 minutes were left to play. Games are won and lost on small margins. Clare got back to within a point of Galway, but that point was enough to see them through to the August 19th final against Limerick, and the chance to win back-to-back All-Irelands.

Galway and Clare teams

Clare shot 15 scores, but they also shot 19 wides, some really bad wides. Galway shot 13. Watching from the stand, I felt the 2 teams understandably found it hard to be at their best. The efforts of 90 plus minutes in Croke Park the previous weekend and the many games both sides have played this summer seemed to take their toll. In fact Galway’s scoreline of 1-17 would not have been a winning scoreline in any of the 23 championship games played except for the drawn Leinster Final between themselves and Kilkenny. It has been a long season. Both Limerick and Galway will play their 9th game of the championship season in the All-Ireland Final. Let’s hope they have time to recuperate and deliver us the match this championship season deserves.

Where’s the sliotar?

I find it hard to imagine regular day-to-day life going on in Thurles. Does it really? The town seems to be purposely designed for big match days. Walking into Thurles town square seeing the colours of the two teams playing on that day, hearing the banter being hurled back and forth from opposing supporters and sensing the anticipation of the untold theatre that is in store is something magical. Then when time has been calculated to arrive in time for the teams running out, the procession out of the square, up the hill over the railway bridge and the turn right for Semple Stadium begins. Then the real excitement starts. The stadium comes into sight. A roar from the crowd inside heralds a score in a minor match and the pace picks up. Through the barriers and you see it. Semple Stadium; Field of Legends. The queues of people making their way through the turnstiles. Tickets ready to be scanned. Little kids with their hurleys. Their fathers telling them to keep the sliotar in their hands now. The darkness of the turnstile and then the light. You’re in. You’re here. Thurles. Nothing like it.

We’ll be out there soon

There are many GAA traditions. One I love is that in Semple Stadium they allow the fans on to the pitch after the game. I met Frank O’ Dowd on the pitch in Thurles after the final whistle.91 years old and still wants to get up off his seat at the end of the game and greet his heroes on the field. Frank never misses a match. Not just Galway hurlers – their footballers too. And minors. And club. And he loves horse racing. And he does it all with his family. His wife, Phil, could not be with him as she was in hospital in Dublin. His daughter, Áine, showed me a photo of her in her Galway jersey watching the game. The GAA should honour Frank and his wife Phil. They are everything good about our games. 

91 year-old old Frank O’ Dowd and his daughter Áine

“God, that’s some commitment to the cause.” I said. What happened to you? I was going up for a ball last night. Came down without the ball and did this to my leg. Kevin McDonnell from Galway told me.  Fair play to you for coming. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. Tell me what is special about going to the games with your brother, with family.  I asked. Well, I’ll put it this way. You know those awkward moments at matches? Awkward moments? Ya, like when your team scores a goal and you grab the fella next to him and start hugging him. Well when the excitement dies down and you see it’s your brother you’ve been hugging you’re grand. No awkward moment! No random stranger you’ve been hugging.

Kevin and Conor McDonnell and buddy Darren Moylan

“This is our bonding time. No men. Sure both our husbands are from Offaly and what would they know? We leave them at home and enjoy the day out together. We wouldn’t have it any other way. We’ve been going to matches together since the 70s. Mary O’ Callaghan told me. Here she is with her good friend Anne McCarthy.

Mary O Callaghan and Ann McCarthy

“I do, I do. The first match I brought him to was the ’98 All-Ireland Football Final against Kildare. He was 5. I told him to stay next to me. I told him. Do you think he did? Course not. I lost him. Public announcement. Got him back. Still have him!” Gerry Burke told me about his son Darren.

Darren and Gerry Burke

“So you’re from Ballyboffey, living in Florida but home on holidays and here in Thurles supporting Clare? I asked Marcus Griffin. “Ya, come to think of it, I really should be in Ballyboffey supporting the footballers today, but it’s great to meet up with Thomas and see some hurling. “And you’re a Tipp man, Thomas? How come you’re supporting the Banner today? “We are both married to Clare women. There’d be hell to pay if we didn’t!

Marcus Griffin and Thomas Murray having a little picnic before the match

“Ah, we do enjoy it, but Mam gives out to me for getting too excited. But who wouldn’t?  Yvonne Connellan told me. “What was the best day? The best day is yet to come. Maybe today or in two weeks’ time.” Phil told me.

Phil and Yvonne Connellan

“Can I get a photo, Tommy? “Sure, he says and comes to put his arm around my shoulder. “Not a selfie! I said. A photo of you.” “Sure, grand!” he says. “What’s a Meath man doing at a hurling match? I asked. “Galway for the shmall ball.” He says.

Not a selfie, Tommy!

And so we are down to two teams – Limerick and Galway. Down to one match – The All-Ireland Final of 2018. It has been an epic season and the most wonderful journey for me. I have met some wonderful people and you know I will be happy for either team to win it knowing the passion the supporters bring to the game and what it means to them all. I am really looking forward to Croke Park on Sunday, August 19th. Here’s to another classic. Here’s to hurling. The heart of hurling!

Galway crowds on the pitch after the game

Posted in Brendan Ó Sé. Brendan Ó Sé photography, GAA, To the heart of hurling Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |

Leinster Final: Galway v Kilkenny

Jul
09
2018
by Brendan Ó Sé | Comments Off

Galway came good yesterday in Thurles. For long periods they were better than good. And yet somehow with 15 minutes left to play and after being 12 points down at one stage, a Richie Hogan goal made it a one-point game. Galway should have been out of sight. Kilkenny had only 1 point on the board after 21 minutes of hurling. Galway had 1-9. By the 33rd minute they were 12 points up. Ger Alyward goal put some respectability on the half-time scoreboard, leaving it 1-16 to 1-7 at the break. Kilkenny did what Kilkenny are famous for. They battled. They harried. They never gave up and with their supporters roaring them on as the game entered its final 15 minutes who would have bet against them? Only for a few bad wides they might have lost by much less than the 7 points which separated the sides at the final whistle with a score of 1-28 to 3-15. Credit must be given to Galway. Kilkenny of old would have smelt blood, sniffed fear and ruthlessly ripped the heart out of Galway as they powered through them. This Galway side is different. Winning last year’s All-Ireland has made them confident in their own ability. They didn’t panic. They kept doing what they are good at and in the end they pulled away from Kilkenny.

Galway fans celebrate their win over Kilkenny

It is easy to see why Galway are everyone’s favourites. They play a fast and powerful brand of hurling. The days of them relying on Joe Canning are gone. They now have hurlers who step up when it matters. They have a few weeks off now until the semi-final on either July 28th or 29th. For Kilkenny, they have to do it all over again in Thurles next Sunday against Limerick. They won’t have the luxury of staying at home to watch the quarter final on television followed by the World Cup Final. Tipp might be out of this year’s championship, but I doubt the pub owners of Thurles care. They have done great out of this new format and have had the bonus of a replayed Leinster Final. The match next Sunday has a two p.m. throw in. This means there will be plenty time to get to a pub in Thurles after the game to watch the World Cup Final on television.

Joe Canning congratulates Johnny Glynn after the final whistle

It was strange driving up to Thurles yesterday for the match. Usually, the road would be busy with Cork fans making their way to the game, but this was a Leinster Final. A Leinster Final replay. One played outside of Leinster, contested between one team from Leinster and another from Connacht. The town square in Thurles was quiet. By now I have gotten to know some of the traders on match day. “It’s fierce quiet, isn’t it? I said to John Ward, a Galway man. “The Galway crowd’ll be coming in the other side on the Nenagh Road from Galway, he said.  Getting to meet the fans before the game took a bit of trekking, more than normal.

Seamus Doyle from Kilkenny takes pride in dressing up in the black and amber of Kilkenny for matches. “No, it doesn’t take that long really. He said. I keep all the gear in the one place after each game so it’s just a matter of finding it and throwing it on. I’ve picked up bits and pieces through the years. Do have a ritual putting it all on? I asked. No, no, I wouldn’t be that way at all, he said. 

Seamus Doyle

How old are ye? I asked. 18! shouted one guy back. No, we’re 19 said another. That means, I said, that ye have been growing up in the very best time ever to be a Kilkenny fan. I know, said one of them, and it’s not over yet. Might be over today, I said. It might be over for today, but we’ll still be in it. We’ll always be in it, said another. That’s the truth. Kilkenny will always be in it. 

Young Kilkenny fans

Oh, we absolutely slaughter him. We give him terrible grief. But he deserves it for being from Kilkenny. Olivia O’ Sullivan from Cork may be married to Rory Moore from Kilkenny, but it does not stop her from winding her Kilkenny husband up. I’m from Cork and I am wearing Galway colours today. 

Rory Moore and Olivia O’ Sullivan

We work hard and these days out make it worthwhile. John would drive one day, and I’d do it the next. Today it’s his turn for a few pints. Next day will be me. Era, of course we would be confident. They’re a fine side. We’ll have lots of days out with them. Lots. 

John Nolan and Tom Foley

I’ve met many fans over the past 7 or 8 weeks. Heard some great stories and been really impressed at the passion people have for their county and what the game of hurling means to them. I have to say meeting Frank and Phil O’ Dowd and their daughter Áine was one of the most inspiring. Frank is 91 years old. Phil is 83, she was in a serious car crash last year and is waiting on a hip replacement. They go to all the matches. Not just inter county. No, club games too. And I go to all the horse meetings I can too, Frank told me. I wouldn’t miss it. What I love about it is the excitement. It’s thrilling, said Phil. I’m delighted Galway won for ye last year, I said. I bet you loved it. I did, I did, he said, as his eyes looked off. I did, he repeated and smiled. Do they get excited during the games, I asked Aine their daughter. You wouldn’t want to be from the opposing county sitting next to them, I’ll put it that way, she said.

Frank and Phil O’ Dowd with their daughter Aine

I bet Frank and Phil are planning their trip to Croke Park in three weeks time, and after that they have the Galway races and I would not bet that they will be making a return trip to Croke Park for August 19th.

Galway Kilkenny Semple Stadium 2018

 

 

 

Posted in Brendan Ó Sé. Brendan Ó Sé photography, GAA, To the heart of hurling Also tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , |